


The Undoomed Romance

by im_pie_la



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everybody Lives, F/M, no magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-10 01:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15280530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_pie_la/pseuds/im_pie_la





	The Undoomed Romance

The first time James Potter saw Lily Evans was outside the library of his small town. Her arms were full of books as she stood on one pedal of her bike, gliding smoothly down the high street. She was wearing patent red shoes, which seems unsuited for the bike she rode. 

She looked up at him, her eyes widening a fraction. In that second she lost control of her balance and the front wheel dipped into a crack in the pavement. She tipped off the bike, her books tumbling across the pavement. 

Her colourful cursing made even him wince and he darted forward to help her pick them up and maybe to catch her name. 

Her books were sprawled over the floor, the cover of one dangerously close to a puddle. It had rained yesterday but the sun today had more than made up for it. 

The girl had dropped to her knees to pick the books up, and James held out the one closest to the puddle. 'Jane Eyre' was emblazoned across the front and it was /heavy/, was she really going to read all of it?

"Are you okay?" He asked, surprised to find himself actually caring about the girl.

She looked up at him, a lock of hair hanging over her green eyes. She took the book from him and flicked through the pages, smoothing a crumpled one out and secured it between the other pages to crease back into a normal position.

She put the other books in the basket of her bike and stood, James scrabbling to his feet after her.

"I'm fine. Those cobblestones are really uneven." She huffed a laugh and brushed her coppery hair behind her ear. 

James found himself nodding. "Those damn cobblestones." he said, shaking his fist lamely.

"You're James Potter." She said it confidently, and James had a feeling he would like this girl.

"I am." He confirmed, slightly bemused as to how the girl knew him. "Who're you?"

The girl tilted her head back, ever so slightly, to properly see his face. Her hair glinted golden in the sun, and she smiled suddenly, her hands clutching the handlebars of her bike.

"Lily Evans."

With the sun shining on her and her halo of copper hair and her wide grin, James Potter fell in love with Lily Evans.

He walked her home that day, sharing sherbet lemons from the bag in her basket, after spending an entire afternoon, on the swings in the park, racing each other to the top, their stomachs leaping every time they reached the peak of a swing, or even looked at each other.

They grinned easily, laughing at the awful jokes James would say and Lily's sarcastic replies: "So why so many books? You're such a nerd Evans." "I'd like you see deal with four hundred pages of doomed love when I smash it around your head, Potter." 

The sun was setting as he said goodbye to her outside her house, arranging to meet outside the library two days later, James promising to bring his iPod ("What? You haven't heard of AC/DC? What about Fall Out Boy? Where have you been living, Evans?") and Lily agreeing to leave '400 pages of doomed love' at home.

They did not just fall in love for that summer, nor just for the mortal years that passed.

Their love spanned decades, from that moment outside a library; to smiling at each other from across a church, shining eyes as they repeated their vows; to cradling a green-eyed baby- eyes like his mother, hair like his father- in their arms, as he chewed on his thumb and waved his free hand at the people smiling down on him

And unlike Jane and Mr. Rochchester, theirs was not a doomed romance.


End file.
